District Judge Jim Bob Darnell im posed the maximum sentence for Fidencio Simon Vasquez of Colorado on a charge of aggravated sexual assault.

''The pain and the hell that Simon put me through for 13 years of my childhood cannot be replaced,'' the older sister, now 25, said in court.

Vasquez repeatedly raped and molested the girls as they grew up, controlling his entire family through fear and intimidation, according to trial testimony. He was charged with forcing the younger sister, now 23, to engage in sexual conduct five years ago when the family lived in Lubbock.

Before imposing the sentence, Darnell said the trial reminded him of a rape case he prosecuted in the late 1970s. The victim dropped out of school, broke off her engagement and was afraid to leave her home for five years, he said.

''What you did was much worse than what happened to her. What you did was unforgivable,'' Darnell told Vasquez. ''Last night I thought about what the jury would have done if they were assessing punishment in this case.

''I have no doubt they would have done exactly what I'm about to do, and that's assess a life sentence in the penitentiary. Because that's what you deserve.''

The victims and their family were pleased by Darnell's ruling, smiling and hugging as sheriff's deputies led Vasquez away in handcuffs.

''We're very happy with the sentence,'' prosecutor Susan Scolaro said.

Vasquez already is serving an eight-year prison sentence in Colorado for sexually abusing the younger sister after leaving Lubbock. Charges related to the older sister's abuse are pending in a third state.

Defense attorney Jaime Lopez argued that prosecutors did not prove that abuse occurred in Lubbock or that Vasquez threatened the victim, an element of an aggravated sexual assault charge.

During the sentencing hearing, Lopez said Vasquez was progressing in sex-offender treatment offered in the Colorado prison and asked Darnell for leniency.

''He's accepted what he's done, and he's learned how to control it,'' Lopez said. ''He's not one of these people who should spend the rest of his life in prison.''

Scolaro asked for the life sentence and called Vasquez's crimes the most heinous violation of the trust given by children to their parents.

''He put them through a living hell,'' she said. ''The pain and the torture and the intimidation ... that was their childhood. It is certainly deserving of this man spending the rest of his life in prison.''

The 23-year-old victim said she first was raped at age 10, and the abuse continued until she was 19. She reported the activity to her mother several times, but the abuse continued, she said.

The victim, now married, said her father controlled the family through fear and intimidation. He forced the children to drop out of school and tracked their every move, she said.

In 1996, the victim started dating the man she would later marry. Vasquez did not approve, she said, and she was forced to go to Colorado with him.

Her boyfriend reported her disappearance and the sexual abuse to Lubbock police. When she finally got away from Vasquez long enough to telephone her boyfriend, he had her call a Lubbock police detective.